BMW is making a substantial push to expand its diesel sales in the U.S., having added an oil-burner option to the 3-series, 5-series, and, most recently, the 7-series and X3. But it appears as though BMW’s efforts aren’t paying off in the car models—at least not yet. The automaker’s U.S. CEO, Ludwig Willisch, is less than impressed by sales of the diesel-powered 3-series and 5-series, and told us so in a recent interview.

According to Willisch, “The 328d is selling so-so, the 5-series is a bit disappointing.” He added: “These are still early days, and low fuel prices haven’t helped diesel technology.”

The executive is more upbeat about BMW’s diesel-powered SUVs, saying that he is satisfied with the diesel take rate in the X5 lineup and is “quite positive that the X3 diesel will do well.” He is referring, of course, to the new-for-2015 X3 xDrive28d, which boasts an attractive—for a luxury crossover—34-mpg EPA highway rating. In our testing, the diesel-powered X3 returned 28 mpg, a substantial 5 mpg better than we recorded in a 2013 X3 with the base gas-fed turbocharged 2.0-liter four we tested last year.

Moving on to the topic of the proliferation of new BMW models and body variations, Willisch denied the automaker’s lineup is becoming confusing. Speaking to one specific instance, the 3-series sedan–aping 4-series Gran Coupe, Willisch said: “We will be really happy to have the 4-series Gran Coupe because it will attract customers that so far have have not looked at sedans.” That may be true, but then who is the 3-series Gran Turismo for?

As for manual transmissions, Willisch isn’t ready yet to speak about the future of the stick in the M5 and M6. Those models’ U.S. customers have really championed the retention of the manual option, while the rest of the world is content with automatics. Willisch’s only comment: “They still have a life cycle of another four years.” On the flip side of the same coin, manual transmissions are considered an integral part of the M3 and M4 heritage everywhere. But apart from the M models, the manual take rate in regular 3- and 4-series cars is low, “in the low one digits,” Willisch revealed.

We’re not very good at hiding our support of diesels and manual transmissions—don’t forget to save ‘em!—but for now it seems BMW is backing both. That said, it ultimately is on the customer to decide the fate of the diesel and the manual, so let’s hope they make the right choice.